Tears Are For Lovers
by Velvet Death
Summary: A stranger. A goddess. A witch. Past lives and magic threaten to tear the Teen Titans apart. The best of friends are pitted against each other for the love of a megalomaniac... [Discontinued]
1. Prologue

**Tears Are For Lovers **

**Prologue**

. ( o ) .

He loved both of them. One was the sun, one was the moon. His world revolved around one of them, but he was positive that, had the other vanished from his life, he would be thrown into chaos. They were both his everything. Then he lost them. It was probably his fault, for not being able to keep them. One ran away with a friend. The other cast herself off of a cliff and her blood still stained those rocks. He loved them. He wanted them. He needed them.

Funny enough, he lived for so long, half-clinging to life. Only the memory of the two kept him awake to the world, seeing the changes, watching its people struggle from darkness to illumination and back. Then, with a shock, he saw them. They were together, they were happy, they were calling to be his. He suddenly needed them again, and he rose from his rest to find them and care for them, to be able to love them like he used to, to keep them with him. His heart, shriveled and black, glowed with new life, new light. He was happy.

So he began the long journey to see both of them again, and to claim both for himself.


	2. ONE: Starfire

**Tears Are For Lovers**

**I : Starfire**

. ( o ) .

The wind was black that night. It pelted the Tower endlessly, hovering and howling with rage and perhaps terror. The occupants of Titan's Tower, however, were soundly asleep, arrogantly assuming that nothing could knock down their stronghold. They did not fear the wind's cries. They had no reason to.

A dark shadow hoisted himself out of the water and onto the rocks surrounding the island. His hair, long and clamped to his head by the water, shielded his face from sight. He stood, lifting his head to the highest center window of the Tower and chuckled under his breath. The chuckle was lost in the warnings of the wind.

. ( o ) .

That morning, Starfire awoke with a scream. She rushed into the control room donning a white, empire-waisted, virginal dress. "I demand to know the meaning of this!" she said, gesturing to her clothing. "Who has changed me while I slept?"

The other four Titans looked among themselves, bewildered. "It wasn't me," offered up all four of them.

"What's the problem, Star?" asked Robin, frowning. "You can just take it off, can't you?"

"No, I cannot! I have tried!" Starfire pulled at the dress, at the laces, the ruffles, the translucent folds, but they did not loosen. "I suspect," she said in a quieter voice, "they will not come off even when I would take a shower."

"Beast Boy," growled Cyborg, "did you have anything to do with this?"

"No, I swear man. Do you think I'd sneak into Starfire's room and undress her while she slept?" Beast Boy's blush turned his skin a motley shade, all purple and green and splotchy.

"Beast Boy doesn't have the guts to do that," said Raven, sipping her tea with the most impassive of looks.

"You think some one snuck in here to do this to Starfire?" asked Cyborg.

"Maybe. Let's check the cameras." Robin and Cyborg, lugging Beast Boy along with them, grouped at the computers at the end of the room. Raven took a look at the confused and disconcerted Starfire and sighed.

"Come on, let's see if telekinesis can get that thing off," she said, leading Starfire out of the room.

Half an hour later, the boys had made a bit of progress.

"Over there," said Cyborg, pointing to an incongruent shadow standing over Starfire. "The wall is dark over here, in this corner, but all of a sudden you have this… it looks like a tall man."

Robin grunted in reply. "Why would anyone sneak into the Tower just to dress Star up?"

"Maybe he has a Barbie-doll complex."

They watched as Starfire stirred in her sleep, covering herself with the blankets. When they looked back at that spot, though, the shadow had gone, leaving the room silent and empty. The three exchanged glances, before noticing that Starfire had flipped over again and they could see a white top under the pink covers.

"How did he do that?" demanded Beast Boy. "He didn't even touch her!"

"…You know, we can't really be sure that was a man there, in the corner, that we saw."

"There was definitely _something_ there." Cyborg frowned. "Something wants Starfire to wear that rather ridiculous looking dress and doesn't want her to take it off."

In the next room, they heard an "OOF!" and a spectacular crash.

Robin managed to look indignant. "Ridiculous-looking? I think she looks great!"

"The only reason you think she looks great is because you can see every curve she has through that cloth, and you're excited," sniggered Beast Boy.

Robin turned a furious glare upon him.

"Not that that's a _bad_ thing," amended Beast Boy hastily, with a sheepish grin.

. ( o ) .

"Geeet off…" muttered Raven, pulling at the dress. For some reason, it just wouldn't rip. She tried telekinesis; it didn't work. She used scissors; it seemed the cloth just couldn't cut. She tried fire; it was flame-resistant. Starfire just stood there, horrified that Raven held a blowtorch so close to her feet. In the end, they both collapsed, both exhausted.

"Whichever prick put that dress on you, wanted it on you badly," said Raven unhappily.

"Perhaps items from my home world will ease the destruction of the garment," offered Starfire.

"I don't count on it."

"Oh." Starfire looked downcast.

Raven gave her a sidelong look, but said nothing. Sympathy wasn't her thing.

"I do not look so horrible, do I?" asked Star in a small voice. "I am 'ok,' correct?"

Raven sighed. She'll try that whole comforthing thing this time. "Yes, Star. You look great. No one will mind."

Starfire burst into a brilliant grin, once again happy. The strange alien always looked on the bright side of things, for some odd reason. When she held her arms out and turned to embrace Raven, however, the dark girl scooted away.

"Save your hugs for Robin. He'll be excited to receive them."

"Truly?" inquired Starfire, smiling.

"I'll bet on it," said Raven sardonically.

At that moment, as if called forth from the dark, Robin strode in.

"Robin!" Starfire captured him in a hug, unconsciously pressing her curvy, soft body to him. The blush that began to glow pink on his cheeks spread all over as she clung to him in her joy.

"I think we should leave them alone," said Cyborg tactfully. Raven followed him out of the room, Beast Boy in tow.

"Guys… Team…. Hey!" Robin panicked.

Laughter from the others was his only reply.

Outside the Tower, a man crouched in a shelter of stones. He saw the scene play before his eyes as he sung a song of Sight under his breath. He opened his eyes, however, and lost the vision when he saw all he needed to, and began to stride into the water. The time will come when he will awake all of them, and the era of the Titans will be over.

. ( o ) .

_Disclaimer:_ TT is not mine. No copyright infringement is intended.

_Author's Notes_: I'm beginning a new story, one that I hope I'll follow through with… the pairings are mixed, I'm not quite sure how I'll go on them, so I stayed R/S in the beginning… later on that might change though. Anyway, enjoy! (And, of course, I'd appreciate reviews.)


	3. TWO: Raven

**Tears Are For Lovers**

**II: Raven**

- ( o ) -

Meditation was a method by which Raven cleared her mind. She rooted out the evil and the rage planted there by Trigon and reestablished peace. It was an act she preformed alone, away from others, locked in her own head, withdrawing into herself, but as cleansing herself became easier, she also spread her peace outward and flowed with the taciturn serenity of the world. That was why she preferred meditation on the roof, where the sky sprawled above her, whether bright or overcast or stormy, and the sea undulated under her, moving with the understandable passions controlled by the moon.

The day Starfire had been struck with the Curse of the Silken Robe, Raven sought her much-needed peace outside. The day was withdrawing into evening, as tangerine and magenta painted across the horizon left a wash of gold upon her face. A slight wind was whistling from the west, ruffling her cloak and tickling her face. It was, Raven discovered, a good day and a good time to indulge in mediation.

Under her skin, in the recesses of her mind, her soul stretched languidly, dark and feline as a panther, swaying in contentment. This was her time, her solitary confinement and her expansive expression of totality. At this moment, for a little while, there were no more questions, no more need for answers, and all things contradictory walked side by side.

"_Luna..."_ interrupted a male voice.

Raven cringed. Someone (as schoolmarm as this sounded) was invading her personal space.

"_Luna. Memora, negra Luna."_

He was saying something akin to Latin, but at the same time, not. His voice was not unpleasant, a rich, throaty baritone, but she still hated it with a passion. Some stirring of an ancient memory jolted her into a sudden bout of bitterness, but he remained, repeating that ludicrous line. _Memora mem, negra Luna. _

His insistent demands grew louder and louder, as Raven was thrown into more and more turbulent of a session of meditation. He was bothering her; he did not belong. This basic leap of intuition, along with the spell for properly expelling an alien presence, rose unbidden into her throat, and as she said the words to keep him out of her mind, he spoke in words she actually understood. _Dost thou think I dost not know the inner workings of thy soul, beloved? I come for thee._

A bright flash, like a thousand suns that pricked her eyelids and shone their light into her soul, burst in front of her and with that, he was gone. She opened her eyes to find herself sitting on the cold, rough floor where before she had levitated, pain growing on her rump and the sun having fully sunk behind the now periwinkle-blue horizon. Raven sighed.

To add to her long list of problems, she now heard voices.

Just peachy.

- ( o ) -

Somewhere between Starfire's undoubtedly _nice_ hugs and scrutiny of that little incongruity in the video, Robin made time for training. There he was, effectively beating up his closest friend, the punching bag with a crudely-drawn face that only half resembled Slade's plastered on one side (kudos to Beast Boy) when Raven walked in with a decidedly pissed look on her face. Not that Raven wasn't always pissed—she just looked more pissed than usual.

So, being the considerate leader he was, Robin caught the swinging, falling apart bag with his hands and inquired after Raven's health.

"I'm fine, thank you," she snapped, much too quickly for him to believe her. Then she went to her corner of the room and started to fling weights at the collapsible wall they had built for her... an act that (unless your teammate happened to be some messed-up, perpetually angry bitch) wasn't normal.

Oh. Wait. Raven could fit in the messed-up, perpet...

Robin cleared his throat. Better not to think about that. She wasn't _always_ angry, of course, and who wasn't messed-up in this Tower?

"Anything you'd like to talk to me about?"

"Not. Really." She punctuated each word with a 50-pound weight smashing into the wall.

Robin struggled for something to say. He wanted to continue beating-up Mini-Slade, but being in the same room with a repressed, homicidal Raven wasn't on the top of his Places-I'd-Like-To-Be list. "...Um... would tea help?"

She shot him a look, taking a pause from her dedicated weight-hurling to glare Daggers-of-Death at him. "The answer is no, Wonder Boy. Now _get out_."

Robin complied. Raven wasn't very good at expressing her emotions, if you wanted to go for clinical, polite terminology. Instead of 'talking things out' she'd throw things around. Many people did that, namely abusive husbands and alcoholics, but when you're faced with someone who uses her powers to rip down buildings and lift buses without breaking so much as a sweat, you're in a considerably more dangerous situation.

Cyborg was sitting like a bag of potatoes, all squat and still, on the couch when he entered the control room. He was watching some show or another; Robin caught sight of prancing ponies and rainbows before Cyborg heard him and flipped the channel, settling on something distinctly manly—sumo wrestling, to be exact. Robin, still a bit shaken from his experience with Raven, thought it best not to tease Cyborg about his secret passion.

"Yo, what's up man?" asked Cyborg, turning to Robin. "You look a bit pale." There you go—Cyborg's other talent, stating the obvious. "I thought you were training. You said you were going to visit Batman and make him proud with how buff you turned out to be..."

"Having a psychic girl tear up the training room kinda puts a cork on that," said Robin, indulging in Raven's sarcasm. He needed something to calm his nerves, after all. He and Raven shared a bond ever since she took a gander inside his head and whenever she was upset, the result was he shared her sentiments, and then some. After all, he had taken the blunt force of Raven's rage back there, in a shadow to her words, the undercurrent in her tone, and he was not of a position to want to receive some more punishment.

"What's wrong this time?" asked Cyborg. He, like Robin, was getting tired of Raven's drama.

"No idea. Wouldn't say."

"Should've known. Never told us anything about Trigon, either. Don't expect her to say anything now."

"But she's our friend! She should trust us like we trust her!"

"Dude, do _you_ tell Raven everything? Girl's gotta have her secrets, just like you have yours."

Memories of his parents tugged at Robin until he gave in. "Sure, but I wish she'd tell us what was bothering her."

"It's her business, man. She's a big girl. She'll deal with it. In fact, I think she's dealing with it right now. I just hope my weights are still there when we go back."

"I don't know, Cy. She seemed pretty angry and she was throwing hers around... so I'm guessing that she'll be finished with them soon and move onto other people's stuff."

"Shoot. You think so? I better go stop her." Cyborg jumped off of the couch and sprinted out of the room. Robin stood in the control room, waiting to hear crashes and screams. None came. The thudding of weights colliding with the wall suddenly stopped, and a slow hush of voices reached his ears.

Cyborg had a way with Raven. They had a friendship he didn't really understand, a kind of camaraderie that he suspected he may never share with the girl. They had bonded in those hours spent in his garage, in the time when he was too busy with Slade and Starfire to give a shit about Raven. He had discovered her lately, under the influence of her destiny and a growing sort of admiration for her that had embedded itself in his heart. But as much as they were friends, she seemed closer to Cyborg, and sometimes closer to Starfire. He wasn't really jealous of this; he had no romantic aspiration to Raven. But sometimes he wished that he, too, could calm her like Cyborg could.

"Hey, said Cyborg, entering the room with Raven striding in front of him, "you can go back to train now."

A glance at both of them, going to the kitchen to boil water for Raven's tea, set Robin's nerves, once calming, aflame. Grimacing, he did exactly as Cyborg said, going back to his Mini-Slade and ripping it up so badly, he pulled it down and went to the closet to get another identical bag (one of dozens), with that same, lopsided mask that served as the enigmatic Mr. Wilson Beast Boy had kindly drawn for him.

- ( o ) -

Raven had reacted out of fear. She hated fear, thought of it as a weakness, and told herself, firmly, that she had nothing to fear except losing herself. The seeds of Trigon, now defeated, still existed inside of her, as she will always be his offspring. However, she was sure she could conquer that, and nothing would shake her so deeply, so much to her core, ever again. But she was, sadly, wrong.

The man, that stranger who spoke to her, had trespassed over her most sacred area, the deepest part of herself. Many women treasured that valley between their legs that proved the hatching ground of life, but for Raven, who promised herself celibacy, her mind was far more important. It was her sanctuary, a temple to replace that of Azarath, a shelter from disorder, no matter how disorderly her emotions may be anyway. That man, who had decided to enter her and speak to her, violated her as surely as any other who would touch her in rape. Horrified that anyone, much less a stranger, would pass beyond the barriers she'd built around herself, to protect herself, had caused her to strike out in desperation, in the physical need to break and hurt.

Cyborg had spoken to her. He had reasoned and calmed her. She was a creature of emotion as surely as Starfire was, but she also kept herself in check by logic, because that was the only way she knew how. Cyborg had connected with this conviction, and helped her out of her crimson-riddled fear. But this solution, she knew, was only temporary. The man had crossed all the borders, all the walls, and if he did it once, he could do it again.

_Memora, nigra Luna_.

She could not bring herself to tell Cyborg, or anyone else, about this trespass. Not yet. She was certain that if she had said it out loud, it would be true—her barriers were compromised, her powers not strong enough for this threat, and she could not protect herself. She could deceive herself (which was what she planned on doing) by saying that she was crazy and heard voices. After all, being schizophrenic was, to her, much better than being powerless in the face of the unknown, the darkness beyond her sight.

Vaguely she could hear Cyborg asking her, probing her for the source of her distress. Equally vaguely could she feel herself grip her cup and take a small sip of the chamomile tea, a usually calming agent that did little in the face of this new problem. She did not answer Cyborg, nor take another sip of tea. Instead she pretended to be fine and shrugged off Cyborg's questions to withdraw herself. She didn't need questioning right now. What she needed was to find the meaning of those words, to assure herself they were nothing but nonsense her subconscious made up for her to dwell over.

- ( o ) -

Beast Boy sat with Starfire on the floor of her room, a Scrabble board between them. Whenever he looked up, he caught a glimpse of her bosom under the white, filmy fabric, so Beast Boy struggled to keep his eyes on the board. In doing so, he was finding a lot of words... though, neither of them really seemed to be winning.

"...O-O-N. Balloon," he said, placing the letters on the board. That's... oh! Double points here!" He picked up the piece of paper lying next to him and started to add. Five plus two plus ten... that's fifteen isn't it? Wait... no, it's eighteen. Whoops.

"Aha!" declared Starfire, a look of excitement passing her features. "I, too, have uncovered a word!"

"V... there! Vijayanagar!"

"Vee-jay-whatagar?"

"Vijayanagar! Fourteenth to sixteenth century Hindustani empire formed by Hindu states to..."

"Yeah, sure, whatever! No facts, please. My head is already stuffed with hydrogen information and natural habitat words. I never ever needed to know what the scientific name for hippo poo is!"

Starfire looked a bit downcast.

"I believe you, though. How many points is that?"

So their afternoon passed, oblivious to the happenings of all outside Starfire's stunningly pink room, of all the schizophrenic, manic-depressive, bipolar, homicidal events that took place. In the end, they both stared at the score sheet with disbelief on their faces.

"How did I win?" Beast Boy exclaimed. How did 'Spiderman' get the best of 'sesquipedalian'? I don't get it!"

"Nor do I..." said Starfire.

Beast Boy could tell that Starfire wanted to win. He had entered into this game without any care, hoping the pass the time and cure his boredom, but Starfire was the one who put effort into each of the words. She was the one, he knew, that deserved to win.

Apparently, Starfire's room thought so too.

While the alien girl was bent over the paper, recalculating the score, Beast Boy noticed her dresser twitching.

Silence from him, shocked, still silence, ensued.

"Beast Boy, I do not think nine and twelve make fifteen... not when you said four and one made fifteen over here..." said Starfire uncertainly.

BB didn't reply. He was, instead, looking wide-eyed at the dresser, which seemed to grow in size and fury, towering over him like some Goliath out of myth. But he was no David, with no slingshot and certainly no stone, and the rumbling of the bed behind Starfire rendered him incapable of anything besides shaking and stuttering.

"I do not understand this concept of subtraction, not in this game... how does fifty-three minus six equal seventy?" continued Star, somehow oblivious to her moving, growling furniture.

Her curtains began to twist so he could discern a face in the pink folds, a face more menacing than he thought possible of any pink cloth. An evil smile spread over the curtains, pure unfettered malice on such an innocuous thing as curtains. All of his impulses were telling him to get out of there, fast.

"You know what, Star? Just ignore the score. I can't do math anyway. You win. Your words were better than mine. Much better."

"Beast Boy, I do not be..."

By the time she looked up, he was out of her room and into the hall, running for his life.

She looked around her tranquil, gentle environs, wondering why he ran off, but at last resigned to packing up the board and the letters and asking him about his queer behavior later.

- ( o ) -

He stood on the roof of a building on the other shore of the currents, watching the abnormally shaped tower and smelling the taste of his old lovers on the breeze that blew from their home to him. He had spoken, however briefly, to one. She had been frightened, but that was no matter, because she had forgotten him in her new form. She would remember, soon enough.

The other one did not sense him at all. She had very little suspicions and carried on with her business as usual. He didn't mind; part of the reason he fell for her in the first place was that she was glowingly independent, always embroiled in her own issues and did not catch the private goings-on of others. She was a force in and of herself, and he would bring her old consciousness back soon. Right now, however, he had to begin slowly. Seduce them like they seduced him, so that their new friends would not root him out and stop him before he could forge a chain of trust and love between all of them, a chain broken by their leaving him but reestablished by this new chance.

The one he spoke to, she'll find out about him soon enough. All he needed to do was keep probing her, keep speaking to her, and offer himself as someone who would devote wholly to her and accept every fiber of her being, and she will bend to his will. The other one will be harder to tame, because she was wild and free. With the first one at his side, however, the other will follow, for devotion to her friend more than anything else. When the moon is gone, even the sun is affected.

The wind shift a couple degrees, and a new scent greeted him. The scent of discontent in the Tower. It should be easy, then. Prying the two away should be easier than he anticipated.

- ( o ) -

_Disclaimer:_ Teen Titans does not belong to me. The new character does, however, and I do like him. He's deliciously obsessive and probably crazy. You know I love the crazy ones. (They have good pills.)

_Author's Note_: Thanks to all who reviewed the first chapter. That was done quickly. This one took considerably longer. The next update may not be in so short of a time, 'cuz school's starting tomorrow. The language the dude speaks is not Latin. I made up some stuff akin to Latin, 'cuz I'm too lazy to go find a translator and match verbs... sry! But if you have a pretty good grasp of a Romantic language, you'll get the gist of what's he's saying. BTW, I'm writing viewpoints a lot, so what the characters think are generally not what I think. For example, I don't think Cyborg states the obvious and I don't think Raven is overly dramatic. :3 That's just Robby speaking. So no reviews demanding me to change my opinion, please. PS... review!


	4. THREE: When Things Get Awkward

**Tears Are For Lovers**

**III: When Things Get Awkward**

- ( o ) -

Normally, when you read stories where something dark, arcane, and generally clandestine is going to happen, stories sprinkled with leanings of fatalism and most probably mysticism, there's prophetic dreams that the lead character immediately forgets after awaking from that premonition, sweat-drenched and breathing heavily.

Not here.

That night, Starfire slept like a baby. It probably had something to do with her mattress, a soft, downy thing imported from Tamaran, land of the warriors. They may specialize in grunting and bawling, but those warrior peoples knew how to make a bed comfortable. Seriously.

Beast Boy didn't stir, Cyborg lied silent on his metal slab of a bed, and Robin, though dreaming so predictably of crime fighting, had no ventures into the dark world of supernatural understanding.

Even Raven, half-demon child, did not dream. Her nightmares used to contain a raging Trigon and a crumbled, burning world; now she slept dreamlessly, passing from one darkness to another before waking.

Perhaps though, even with all of the clichés that attached itself to those dreaded dream sequences, the Titans _should_ have one. They _needed_ to have one to deal with the coming trouble and shocks. But fate (and the muse of this particular story) was disinclined to give them any suspicions about the coming events, so the five teenagers were left in the dark, peacefully awaiting a time where turmoil ruled and confusion sprung up like weeds in an untamed garden.

- ( o ) -

It didn't help that she was determined not to fall in love.

It didn't help that she denied herself the pleasures of simple human arousal, often contained by the chaining and locking away of the emotion Lust.

It didn't help that she had an inkling she liked someone else already.

Squeezed against Beast Boy thanks to the tentacles of a particularly persistent monster, Raven had no choice but to blush. Natural responses were, well, natural. And it particularly didn't help the situation when she snuck a glance at Beast Boy to see that his face, too, was aflame. Her slight body crushed against his under the weight of a gigantic, writhing mass of flailing feelers, a monster concocted by some ambitious mad scientist or another. Resisting the hold of the foe only brought her into further contact with him... and something at his pelvis that was changing from limp to... _not limp_ at an alarming rate.

Beast Boy, from the dilation of his large green eyes, was just as aware of it as she was. A look of horror, followed by a split _I-should-have-known_ expression, passed over Raven's face. She did not want to be stuck pressed against Beast Boy and finding out that he had the hots for her... especially not in this situation!

Cyborg launched a barrage of missiles at the center of the mass of black limbs, but the soft, glutinous enemy only absorbed them and spit them back out on the ground, useless. Starfire struggled with two of the black arms, a test of alien vs. creature strength. Robin, just as eager to finish the many-armed jelly-thing off, attacked from beneath.

Raven and Beast Boy hung in the air, awkwardly (and resolvedly) not looking at the other. A thought popped into Raven's head as the embarrassment accentuated with the tugging and insistent pressing against the inside of her thigh courtesy of BB's libido. She had psychic powers. She could just vanish out from that spot and pop in somewhere else. _Duh_, said the cruel little voice in her head. _Stupid_.

So, unable to endure any longer, Raven popped out and popped in, fanning herself with a corner of her cloak to alleviate the intense burn that had imposed itself upon her cheeks in the last five minutes.

The tentacles, now lacking a second body to enwrap, slightly loosened and Beast Boy fell to the earth, catching himself just in time and morphing into a cat that landed gracefully on its four paws. Though disaster had been evaded, the remnants of mortification hung on his face.

Cyborg finally blasted the beast through the hole where it spewed out the attacks it sucked in, obliterating half of the entirety of that ebony mass. Clumpy, almost translucent pieces fell to the earth in the aftermath, and none of the onlookers –or the titans— were spared.

Starfire fell into step along side Raven as they headed back to the T-car, parked far enough away that it had not suffered being pelted with the residue of black-jelly. "Is something, as they say, 'the matter,' Friend Raven?" she asked, looking inquisitively at the fading redness on Raven's face and the scowl the dark girl had determinedly secured in place of the flush. "You seem ill."

"I'm fine Starfire," said Raven, her voice a quiet rumble. She shook her cloak to dislodge any clinging clumps of _beast_. "Just make sure I don't get within ten feet of Beast Boy for the next year, and everyone else will be fine, too."

Starfire, understanding only that Raven was angry with Beast Boy and wished not his presence, looked between them. "Has something happened while you were both trapped in the grip of our recent foe?"

"Look, Star," said Raven unhappily, "if you want the details, go ask idiot-boy over there. I don't want to talk about it."

Star complied, only to receive an equally grumpy rejection from the aforementioned idiot-boy.

Sitting at a window in a coffee shop situated conveniently between the scene of the battle and the Titans' vehicle, the man smirked. He lifted a cappuccino to his red-violet lips and watched Starfire try to arbitrate a peace between the two humiliated teammates. He could not hear them, of course, over the murmurings of the other occupants in the shop, but the look on each of their faces was good enough. His Goddess love bore resolve and goodwill, his sorceress love held anger and displeasure, the green one had '_my-life-is-officially-over_' written all over his face, and both Metallic Man and Leader Boy were pretending not to understand what was going on. Such a delightful team.

They were amusing, he decided. They were fun to observe, as they were no better than animals and he was the scientist sent to observe them. Except, of course, he'll do more than observe. He will take what is rightfully his and leave the three pathetic males standing in the lonely dust of their adored tower.

- ( o ) -

The problem with coming from a different planet, decided Starfire as she sat through an uncomfortable supper, was that you were often on different levels of existence from others. On her home world, everything was open, and free, and true. Here on Earth, people hid things and told lies more often, and did not allow themselves the freedom to admit wrongness and repair all damage.

From the first day she spent on Earth, Starfire tried to foster goodness and rightness and all the values she had learned growing up on Tamaran. Robin, though he preferred what Cyborg called brooding to what Beast Boy called a night of excitement, terror, and popcorn, knew what she referred to.

Openness was the only way to gain trust in each other as a team and a people. It resolved all differences and allowed for goodness and togetherness to prevail. She had not always been open, true, but that was a habit learned after settling on Earth, where Raven had her parents and Robin had his villains and Cyborg his sense of unhumanity and Beast Boy his Terra.

Raven, surely, did not know openness. She was secretive where Starfire knew barely anything about secrets, dark where Starfire only saw goodness, and, as Cyborg said, more morbid than the grave. Raven had her pain, and she dealt with it in an entirely different way than Starfire, which perpetuated her suffering while Starfire fell in and out of happiness with such energy and exuberance that she had no time to impress and carve such torment on her soul.

This willingness to lie and hide was a fundamental difference in how humans and Tamaranians thought that confused and angered her, because they were no longer a happy, pleasant group but now spoke in two-word sentences and glared at each other over their daily nutrition.

Starfire, for the first time she could distinctly remember in a long time, matched Raven's scowl with one of her own.

- ( o ) -

Robin looked up from the mass of papers before him as the door slid open. A tall girl with a plethora of flaming hair entered, translucent white dress shimmering under a purple overcoat. They had not been able to get the dress off, and so Starfire, in order to assume a semblance of normalcy, wore a robe the hue of her former warrior's garb when they left the tower to fight. She had not bothered to take it off once they had returned.

"Have you locked yourself away, Robin?" she asked softly. But her voice was altered, no longer highlighted with gentle innocence. It wasn't enough of a change to alarm him to danger, but Robin was startled nonetheless. There was an edge there, something close to bitterness. "Once more in your work?"

"What else?" Robin's reply was droll, as if he, too, found his preoccupation with his occupation tiresome.

"Rest assured I have not come to dissuade you," said Starfire. "On the contrary, you have been investigating cursed garments, correct?"

Robin nodded, sitting back on his swiveling chair.

Starfire's voice dropped to a near whisper. "I may have some information... A book I've brought from Tamaran bears a description close to what you may be looking for, except this garment is not cursed. Instead, it is blessed. garb for a Goddess, they say..."

- ( o ) -

Curled up between a statue and a bookcase, Raven pulled her cloak tightly about herself and closed her eyes. Her mind was screaming with horror and pain, as barricades she had constructed with a fair amount of her own energy and soul burned and crashed, crumbling to dust at the voice of a stranger.

"Not again," she pleaded with some unknown power, digging herself into the wall.

Fire seared her thoughts, her powers failing to gain control over what was now anarchy in her mind. Any less control over her powers, Raven feared, would mean the unleashing of every single one of her emotions and the destruction of her home.

He did not know, she decided, halfway between consciousness and anguish, what she was enduring. His words were soft, almost too gentle for comfort, the words of one lover to another in the hazy afterglow of lovemaking. But she could not listen to them; she was too busy being torn apart at the seams.

Finally, after a buildup of tension and passion, the separate entities in her mind gave a collective cry:

"_Stop!_"

And suddenly, the man stopped speaking.

The calm after a storm, the shaky peace between battles, the sudden quiet after an abrupt end of noise—it scared and disconcerted her, and for a moment, all Raven could do was pull at the polyester of her cloak and hang in the tatters of her mind.

The barriers had been too tightly worked with the actual material of her mind, with the actual thoughts she went through, for her to come through unscratched after a tremendous skirmish like this had been. Sure, it seemed as if the other were untouched, perhaps even shocked into silence, but for Raven, this was one of the most sobering experiences she'd ever had.

"Stop," she said again, this time out loud. It was more of a statement to herself, to assure herself she was still there, still rational.

There was a quiet murmur at the back of her head, something foreign and male, but not loud enough to disturb her hard-earned peace. Then—a sound akin to the fluttering of wings and he left.

She somehow _knew_ he was gone, disappeared from her presence. And she was left with her own ruined controls.

Tendrils of power escaped from her as Raven shakily got to her feet and approached her bed. She began to pull together the scraps of her thought, threading needles of black power with logic and sewing together memories, repairing tapestries of spells stored in her subconscious, dangling the elaborate embroidery of her childhood complex before her.

Raven wondered for a moment whether to repair it or not; if not, her life would be so much more carefree, and she would probably be a lot happier than she was now. But if she did so, she would not be Raven any longer, and so the thread returned to its incessant weave, finishing off loose edges and retouching designs.

Slowly, surely, Raven rebuilt her psyche.

- ( o ) -

He swore at himself, pounding his fists into the weak, wooden walls of his rented room. The plaster crumbled under his knuckles and rivulets of blood began trickling from tears on his skin. How could he be so stupid? The witch of his past and the witch of his present had different levels of power—the past and karma of this witch had ensured a sense of paranoia and installed a web of protection around her, a web he had bypassed easily and without knowledge, much weaker than he was used to.

He had proved blind to her suffering, understanding her squirms and demands were cries of torment only when she had found a scrap of her old power and screamed at him to cease his urging. He realized that any sweet words would only hurt her more, and after an almost-silent apology, withdrew. Only when he opened his _third eye_ did he see the ravaged wasteland of her consciousness. Guilt pulled on his strings, nicking his calm.

He let forth another string of expletives.

She would have more difficulty trusting him now. Any psychic communication would lead only to a heightened sense of persecution. Which meant if he wanted to speak to her and convince her of his good intentions, he would have to meet her face to face.

- ( o ) -

_Disclaimer_: When have you ever known me to claim TT was my own? Use common sense! No copyright infringement is intended, this is purely for fun.

_A/N_: Sorry for such a long wait between updates. I was engrossed in another story I was writing, and I had an AP World exam and a math test, plus my back-to-school book essay. By the way, if you read this, do drop a review. Please. I really want to know how this affects you. BTW, this chapter is dedicated to **_ChocolateCurlz_ **because she's such a totally awesome person. Go check her out, if you haven't already (which most people have). Thanks for reviews go to: **numbah-1-RAVEN** _(no I'm not abandoning this fic)_, **My Silver Wound** _(thank you!)_, **A lilmatchgirl**, **DarkVyse88**, **OptimusChrist** _(watch me stick to this fic like glue_), **ShinigamiPhoenix**, **ChocolateCurlz** _(a hit? oh, I don't know...)_, **Sakushii**, **DITZY** _(ah, merci, it's great to know I'm loved_), **J **_(I did not)_, **Ryusensei**, and **Haley too-lazy-to-sign-in Carr.**


	5. FOUR: Goddess Garb

**Tears Are For Lovers**

**IV: Goddess Garb**

.o-o.o-o.

Early in the morning, two figures exited Robin's study and made their way towards the kitchen, each wishing for a good, hot cup of coffee. The taller one, with a shock of fiery hair, led the way. Behind her, trailing by a few respectful footsteps, was a young boy in a black cape. In his hands were clutched a leather-bound manual and a couple of printed papers.

They had spent the night over his desk, consulting several different information sources about the legitimacy of the Tamaranian legend, until they had both fallen into an uneasy sleep atop their work. After a couple hours of rest, not nearly enough for the hungry teen bodies, they awoke to the rumbling of the computer and a tremendous cold caused by an open window. Groaning, they pushed themselves away from the desk, closed the window, and decided caffeine was the best way to go.

Hours later, when the sun peeked beyond the eastern horizon with its usual stolid ascent, another teammate descended the stairs of the control room to find Starfire and Robin murmuring to each other over the pages of a yellowing book.

"Yo... did I miss something?" Cyborg grabbed a waffle iron from a cabinet and studied them over the preparation of his breakfast. "Any reason you two are up this early... talking?"

Cy wasn't stupid, nor was he blind. Everyone on the team could feel the currents of attraction running between Starfire and Robin. Thus, he had ample reason to be suspicious.

Robin looked up at him gravely. Forgetting his food, Cyborg slid into the seat across from Starfire. "What's wrong?"

He expected Robin to answer, but Starfire suddenly turned her luminous eyes on him. "It seems," she said slowly, "that I am divine."

"Girl, I know you're beautiful and all, but divine?" joked Cyborg, the humor faltering when Robin glared at him. His leader pushed the book towards him, pointing to a shaky illustration next to a page describing a Tamaranian goddess. There, in billowing robes, stood Starfire, her hands lifted to the sky and her lips parted in song. Behind her, lightning scored the ground and fire rose in waves. Though tattoos marred her skin, and a heavy, thick torc hung about her neck, the resemblance was there. The eyes, the set of the jaw, the nose, the slope of her body, it was all Starfire.

And what was more disconcerting was that, upon further scrutiny, Cyborg realized Picture-Starfire was dressed in a white, empire-waist, translucent gown.

"Holy... this is _you_?"

Starfire nodded.

"I dunno if I can believe this, Star," Cyborg said, struggling to comprehend the implications of what he'd just learned. As if on cue, Beast Boy entered.

"Good morning people, what's with the mopey faces?"

"It's your turn to spread the news, my friend," said Starfire, her hand on Cyborg's shoulder. Then she rose and went to the computer, Robin falling into step behind her.

Cyborg turned. He was to be the bearer of the tidings, he knew, from that contemplative gaze Starfire gave him.

"Well…."

.o-o.o-o.

They wouldn't miss her. She could stay in her room and heal herself and they wouldn't bother to check in until later, when they realized finally who was missing. It would be fine. The whole Tower was in an uproar, after all. Beast Boy was yelling himself hoarse, and Cyborg's voice was rising to match his. Something was happening outside that preempted any effort to lure her out of her room.

She'd be safe here, wrapped in her sheets and cowering.

_Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos_.

She had mended and restored herself. Every stretch of tattered thought was meticulously patched. Every memory, every prejudice, and every conviction held itself in harmony again. But her trust in her own powers, her belief in her ability and the sanctity of her _self_ was shattered as surely as a crystal vase cast to pieces on a black, marble floor.

_Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos_.

Perhaps she should go back to the home of her youth and find her mother, her mentor, and the monks, so she can shield herself in their peaceable, flinty armor—their strength. But she was too weak to move from her hunched position on her bed, much less cross dimensions into her old home. So Raven resigned herself to her gnawing apprehension and the repetition of the three words that meant the preservation of her sanity.

Azarath, Metrion— 

"I'm sorry."

His voice stunned her out of her trance, and Raven opened her eyes with a fair amount of foreboding.

A man was standing in the corner of her room, his face sunk in shadows. "I'm sorry, dear one, for hurting you."

"Who—who are you?" asked Raven, scrambling back to push herself against her headboard. A stranger had somehow teleported into her room.

He shook his head. "My name is too archaic to use. You may call me Vyler if you'd like. It's as close to my original name as possible. You need not know who I am for the moment, but I was the one who damaged you. I'm sorry."

She regained some of her courage as he spoke, and her features narrowed into a glare at his apology. "Sorry won't do you any good, not now."

"I know. But please let me make it up to you." He reached out, moving his hand slowly until she could see his skin, so pale she could see intercrossing veins and rock-rigid muscle. "You have no reason to trust me, but I'd like to help you reconstruct your mind."

"Get out. Get out now. I'm not interested in what you have to say."

"Consider it, please."

"No. If you are the one who invaded me, then you'll not get a second chance to do so. Get out." Raven began to tremble, her lips shaking with rage and exhaust. "Leave me _alone_."

"I can't do that, not when I have to suffer the guilt of what I did to you. I didn't know, not until you finally spoke to me."

"I… I what?"

"When you told me to stop. I couldn't hear you before that, if you did speak at all. Your voice is quiet, and I wasn't used to the conditions in your new mind."

"My _new_ mind?"

"…" The silence trailed on as they came to a standstill. Neither were willing to concede to the will of the other.

"How can I trust you," said Raven at last, making an overture of peace, "if you won't show your face?"

He smiled in amusement. Raven could see his smile because all of a sudden the shadows pulled away and there he was, his hands loose at his sides and the most peculiar expression in his face, something akin to the doting expression of a parent. "Happy?"

Raven's arms fell slack as she stared at his perfect features. His face was beautifully proportioned, his eyebrows slanting up under dark, long lashed eyes. A straight, thin nose and resolved cheekbones followed, and his lips, as they moved, were the most captivating things she'd ever seen. She was positive that there had never been, nor would there ever be again, a man as beautiful as he.

He advanced, catching her unawares, and took her temples into his hands, closing her eyes and reaching into her mind. This time he was gentler, strengthening her inner web and bending her pliant inexperience into a great structure of elegance and power. He invested ability in each gap between the webs and wove a cocoon of magic around them. Soon, they were both lost in the humming music of their psyches, their sense of self lost as each current of crescendoing melody struck the chords of their souls, and old capabilities reawakened.

.o-o.o-o.

"Where is Raven?"

Starfire looked around the little assembly, the hairs on the back of her neck rising with precognition. Something was horribly incorrect. "Where is our friend?"

"She probably has something to do," said Robin offhandedly, shifting the weight of the book in his lap. He flipped to another page and read about Tamarianian rites of sacrifice.

"That is not good, Robin. She should be here with us as we embark on this discovery, for if she is not, she will surely miss out."

"She'll deal." Beast Boy noted in the margins of a print-out background information on Tamarianian religion.

"I believe we should find Raven and involve her in this." Starfire's face grew dark. "Something may be up in the air."

"I think Star's right," said Cyborg, ignoring the alien girl's grammar mistake. "Raven needs to be here. This is important."

Robin sighed, marked the page of the book he was reading, and slammed the tome shut. "Then let's go get her, shall we?"

They rose, Cyborg and Robin and Starfire, single-mindedly heading towards Raven's room.

Beast Boy followed, dragging his feet...

...until he heard a scream.

.o-o.o-o.

_Disclaimer_: As soon as any of you can prove this is mine, I'll do the cancan. No, even better, Raven and Stalker-Guy will do the can-can. Until then, TT is not mine.

_Author's Note_: This chapter is noticeably shorter (at least for me) than the other ones. Perhaps because I am lazy and right now, it's 5PM and I want to go to bed. (Yes, I want to go to bed at five. I stay up till 2 AM anyway, so I need my sleep.) I've got the next chappie plotted out, so yeah. And sorry for the slow update. Tests and after-school activities really put a strain on you. Oh, and by the way, Raven is stronger than she appears in this chapter. She was just mesmerized by the guy, Vyler. Till next time, this is Velvet.

_Thanks to_: diva of the opera, Lady of the Sands, Burning Children, Scorpiored112, StargazerSarah, ChocolateCurlz, OptimusChrist

The rest of you, PLZ comment. I'd like to know how you feel about this fic. My next update will be soon, I promise. You


	6. FIVE: The Slumbering Giants

**Tears Are For Lovers**

**V: The Slumbering Giants**

Raven was alone.

_Alone_ may be too simple of a word to describe her situation.

Raven was standing, perfectly solitary. In front of her stretched roiling purple waves. Behind her was lapping red. Up and down the length of her situation she regarded, and then all around. Up down, sideways, diagonal, straight, under, over--no one and nothing but the moving landscape. And the utter silence, the absence of noise, freaked her out.

And that's when the eyes opened.

They weren't beautiful eyes; they were much too narrow for that. What made them attractive was the reflection, the spikes and speckles of light in them, all silver and pale renditions of the base color, a passionate blue. Blue, that connected the violet of her foreground and the crimson of the land she stood with her back to. The lashes were too short, darkly singed, as if burned by a flame some time ago and only growing out now. The whites of the eyes were penciled with red capillaries; this was not the snowy white of the well rested and the careless. These eyes had character, personality, though they stood disembodied in front of the shocked empath.

The corners of these giant eyes crinkled up, as if in laughter. Then they blinked, and unconsciously, Raven blinked with them. When she looked again, they were gone.

So what was she to do now? Instinct told her to walk. She gazed at the floor, where a line separated the two whirling colors. It was blurring, and her feet covered the exact width of where the colors blurred. Should she take a step forward and condemn herself to being lost in the tide of purple? Or should she retreat and allow the red to conquer her? When she at last decided, she lifted her foot.

Or, at least, she tried to lift her foot.

It was mired into the floor, which had turned into a gooey, viscous substance the color of Beast Boy's face after stuffing his face with chili peppers. It was like quicksand, except she wasn't sinking. It trapped her, building up walls of rapidly crusting gunk that solidified into stone.

Raven cried out in fear, her fingers reaching to try to pry her legs away.

When her bare skin touched the substance, a heavy feeling settled in the back of her head. Warmth, embedded with slivers of pain, traveled up and out to envelope her entire head.

And a hand took her on the small of her back. And her lips were crushed, the dark scent of magic and masculinity shoved into her nostrils.

Raven fell unconscious in his arms.

-

_Why?_ Human words were incapable of expressing the emotions churning Starfire's stomach as she watched Raven. If she had to describe it using her second language, she would say it was a mixture of frustration, concern, anger, and lastly, jealousy. Why was it that Raven seemed so tortured all the time, that she was the one frequently in trouble, that she was the one whose door was knocked down repeatedly by teammates in search of her?

Why did she always withdraw, even after the demon of herself had been uprooted and her father's influence cast out? Why was she the source of so much… so much _spectacle_?

Then and there, Starfire decided on a new name for her friend. She'd seen it on the television set once.

Drama Queen.

-

Beast Boy paused in the doorway after pushing and jostling the three dumbstruck teammates that stood before him. He scoured the room for trouble, his lips parting to demand from Raven why she was screaming. The words dropped from the tip of his tongue and he averted his eyes.

Raven was on the floor, bent over double, without a single shred of clothing on her. Nothing explicit, but the very sight of her skin shocked her friends. Vivid tattoos, blocky lines in elaborate patterns, adorned her back and spiraled down her arms and thighs. She was shaking silently, her hair falling forward to shield her face.

Beast Boy took charge. It wasn't his role, and he didn't frequently take it, but just the fact that Robin and Cyborg were unable to act, torn between walking away and rushing forward to help Raven, sealed his fate. He took their arms and pushed them so they faced the wall. His eyes met Starfire's, and he mouthed, "Go." When she didn't appear to understand, he cocked his head towards Raven and gestured for her to help. That being said, he places his hands on the backs of the two boys and led them away.

Sighing, he hoped Starfire would do her best.

-

"Come, my friend. Let us dress you," said the alien girl, wrapping a sheet around Raven's shoulders. Raven flinched at the touch, but otherwise, she did not move.

"Raven…"

The dark girl looked around the room, turning her head this way and that. "Where is he?" she said, her voice hoarse.

"Who?"

She rose to her feet, her hand gripping Starfire's fiercely. There was a flush in her face and a strange, far-off expression in her eyes. But the emotion radiating off her was most disconcerting—fury knotted her aura and Raven glowed red in Starfire's eyes.

"Him. Didn't you see him when you came in?"

"I do not believe I saw anyone," said Star, frowning. "But I will look in your room if you would like."

Raven shook her head. "He's gone."

The patterns had not faded into her skin. Instead, they stayed vivid and seemed to emit a shrill sort of cry. Starfire shook her head. Patterns did not make sound. She was dreaming, she must be. Raven looked up at Starfire, her fingers beginning to tremble. "I think I'm sick, Star," she whispered, a noise like the grate of wood across metal. She retched suddenly, and Starfire watched in horror as Raven doubled over, blood-laced vomit spraying over the carpet.

"_Robin! Cyborg! Beast Boy!_"

She suddenly started to wish the three hadn't left. What was a little nudity in comparison to the terrible health their good friend was in? Still, the back of her mind dwelled the thought: _drama queen, throwing up blood…_Starfire flinched, startled. She was annoyed with Raven for what _could_ be cries for attention, but somehow, being angry with her for her sickness was too disgusting of a motive for that emotion. Frowning, she tried to bury the bitterness under another coating of concern.

"_Please!_"

Robin rushed into the room, wild with anxiety.

"Robin, help me! Raven, she has…"

Robin took one long look at the floor, and his face contorted into a grimace of distaste. Starfire hauled the other girl to her feet, wiping the residue of spew from where it dribbled onto her chin. Raven's eyes rolled into the back of her head, and their whites were inflamed. Irritation gnawed at her; why was Robin being so inactive, so _useless_?

Beast Boy and Cyborg entered on each other's tails. Cyborg had the strangest emotion emanating from off of him: relief. Why was he _happy_ at Raven's condition. Her confusion and exasperation grilling itself into a burnt mix, Starfire glared at the ineffective boys.

And they turned to stone.

She almost dropped Raven's limp body from shock. Though it was not in the least way the first time she'd ever seen her teammates solidified, that it happened due to herself made Starfire cold to her bones. Which was more important, she debated—helping Raven out of her faint, or restoring her friends? Out of some deep feminism, she chose the girl she supported, and carried her to her bed. For some reason inexplicable (as many inexplicable things were happening), she did not worry about the stone figures.

"Raven, please…" she said, lightly pressing her lips to the forehead of her best friend. "Awake."

Raven's eyes widened suddenly, her pupils dilated as they reverted back to their original position. Starfire placed her hands on either sides of Raven's face, and the empath arched under her, the symbols glowing bluish. Warmth pooled at the points of contact between the two. Raven started to tremble, and her lips fell open. Words tumbled out, but Starfire lost track of them as she concentrated on the hope of Raven's well-being. After all, she couldn't understand them, except for the echo of reply stirring in the ends of her fingers.

And as strangely as the whole event had begun, with a scream, it ended. Raven's body, which had been taut as a strung bow, relaxed suddenly. She dropped back onto the bed, and the feeling under Starfire's hands became cold. Raven's eyes closed, and her erratic breathing stilled.

Starfire smiled suddenly. Then she turned back to the images of her male friends, brushing past them on her way out of Raven's room. As she opened the door into her bedroom, she heard their footsteps, clipping and thick, as they filed out of Raven's bedroom. Her job was completed; a primal force in her chest, one that had flared and expanded in the action of only moments before, faded away.

Starfire tumbled to the floor before she could reach her own bed.

Exhaustion.

-

"What in the world happened?"

Cyborg felt as if he had been walking underwater. His movements were sluggish, as were the speed of his usually quick thoughts. He had to steady himself with the wall of the hallway as he followed Robin and Beast Boy to an empty room. The others, from their less-than-graceful motions, didn't look as if they were faring any better. He couldn't remember anything of the last twenty minutes, up until he saw Raven (don't think about it too much, Cy) naked.

Oh, _man_. It wasn't that Cyborg wasn't attracted to Raven; he was, in the physical sense. Spending so many of his hours locked up in the garage with her developed a keen sense of physical chemistry between them. Raven, he knew from how uncomfortable she sometimes seemed when looking at him, felt it too. But it didn't go any farther than that.

Raven was his closest female friend. Starfire was infinitely more womanly, and more open with her feelings, but he didn't connect with her the way he did with Raven. And Bumblebee was, to him at least, one of the guys, able to hold her own and then some. With Raven though, he felt as if he knew her well, and vice versa. Seeing her without clothing, then, was a violation of their relationship almost. It was his body responding to the appearance of a helpless woman, but his mind repelling him from it. He didn't need romantic love from her; they already had their own form of caring. It was as awkward as walking in on his non-existent sister.

And worse still, he couldn't remember what he did about it. He couldn't remember if he had done the chivalrous thing, and covered her with a blanket, or if he had blushed and ran away like a madman. He couldn't remember if Raven had seen him staring or not. He couldn't remember if any of the others upbraided him for it. He couldn't even remember if he had simply _not_ done anything at all0—the action of inaction.

He would never tell anyone about this, he decided, bracing himself as the other two entered the control room. He would not trust anyone with this information. He was too scared to.

Then setting his face into a rendition of apathy, Cyborg stepped through the entrance.

-

Robin frowned. Stoic Cyborg had just sat down at the couch. Nervous Beast Boy buried his face in his hands beside Cyborg. Raven was slumbering in her room. _Where was Starfire?_

-

There were tears in his eyes as the man who called himself Vyler stumbled back to his hotel room, which he now regarded as a holding cell until he can join his lover. First and foremost, they were from love. Then, as they fell from his absurdly beautiful (yes, he thought so too) face, they were for anguish and terror. Lastly, as his eyes drifted towards where the two he held in his heart remained, they were for hope.

Digging his face into his pillow, his shoulders shaking with the wracking sobs that crashed into his lungs, Vyler cried tears of the greatest emotion of all: joy.

-

_Disclaimer:_ Nope, not mine. Never will be. Damn you, Marv Wolfman and DC comics!

_Author's Notes:_ Oh god I'm so sorry for not updating earlier. X( That was really horrible of me, I know. I'd give you all these excuses about how busy I was, school and family life, etc, but the fact of it is, it was the _writer's block_ that slowed this update. I really had _NO_ idea how to continue with the fic until I waited a couple weeks and started anew. But now that I'm back, I hope to remain back! Yes! I'm planning on giving another chapter before Christmas pulls around _puh-lease_ because if I don't, then I'm an _idiot_. That's right.

Ok. This chapter. I hope all of you understand this fic: this is the first chapter when Raven gets in touch with how she's going to be for the rest of this fiction, her new 'powers' and the consequences of having them. This is also when Star's latent abilities rise to the surface, and she's taken over by the 'Goddess' within her. (Damn, but I sound like that Venus razor commercial.) We get a bit of Cy here, and a bit of BB. Robin's dumb, by and by, (even though I love him!) and Vyler is a very emo, very in-touch-with-his-_feminine_-side old man. (Yes, he's old. He looks young.)

So I hope I haven't made a Gary-stu. He happens to be a (GASP) villain, and his weaknesses will be shown later on. He's more than human, but his feelings are all mortal, and like most people, handling more than one woman will take a toll on him.

This fic is very much about the relationship between two female best friends. I haven't had a lot of interaction between them; more will happen later.

**IMPORTANT:** If you don't understand this fic, please email me at selene (UNDERSCORE) light (AT) comcast (DOT) net. I will try to explain it to you. Otherwise, you can use my aol instant messenger, azothwings.

Thank yous and iced teas my reviewers: StargazerSarah (that's so cool; you're obsessive compulsive? I just hope it doesn't freak you out too much!) , Burning Children, Danica01, A lilmatchgirl, falyn anjel, Rose of the F.I.C., and ChocolateCurlz (there was no reason. you just didn't sign in:P).

**Review, please. I really need constructive criticism for this fiction.**


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